Demons
by MasterHyperion-Reborn
Summary: 7 year-old Harry has been left, beaten to death, by his relatives, and his soul makes its way to Hell. On reaching there, a Demon makes an offer he can't refuse: a return, on the condition he hosts the Prince of Hades. Independent!Harry, Manip!Dumbledore. DISCONTINUED FOR NOW. I need to completely re-do this from the top. Sorry guys! Once I'm done with Mors, I'll come back to this.
1. Chapter 1

'Well, it's not as if your life could get any _worse_.'

Harry's mind barely registered that that thought didn't seem like his own before his vision darkened, his heart stopped its pathetic attempts at beating, his mind started to fail, and, moments later, his eyes deadened to a glassy sheen.

Harry slowly opened his eyes. He blinked. 'Huh.' He'd hoped, of course, that he might survive, but he didn't really expect it. He certainly hadn't expected to wake up completely painlessly as well…

"Ah, good, you're awake. I was worried we'd lose you to the other side for a bit. Good thing that didn't happen. Wouldn't do to lose such a… promising subject."

The man who had spoken walked closer, and it was at that moment that Harry realised it wasn't much like a man. The demon looked at his terrified face, and sighed. This defenceless child had been beaten to death by his uncle, and now, as far as he could see, was going to be spending eternity under more torture.

"Look, I know what you're thinking, and I can assure you, this is not the case."

This caused the child to pause, and he continued:

"As a matter of fact, I want to send you back Up, but first, I have a proposition for you. In order to send you back, to save your life, I want you to serve as my vessel. It will allow you to live, and in return, you must let me live also."

The child looked nervous, before asking: "Will it be better if I live? Will I be safe?"

"Yes."

He saw the man gesture, and, just as he left life in pain, his eyes opened and unimaginable pain washed through him, before his mind allowed him to fall once more into untroubled sleep.

**A/N**

**Hi there readers. First of all, thanks for taking the time to read what I hope will be an ongoing story. So, what do you think? Any reviews will be greatly appreciated, and, if you're going to review, tell me if you want me to continue? If I get enough people (like, I don't know, 10? Something like that. This is my first story, and I have no idea how many people will see this), I will continue. Thanks, and I hope to see you seen. Bye!**

**- MasterHyperion-Reborn**


	2. Chapter 2 - The Sorting

**A/N**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. JK Rowling does. Anything you recognise is hers. Anything you don't, well, I'm laying claim to that.**

**Well, it turns out I get bored VERY easily.**

**Thanks to the people who are following my little story! It's awesome that people actually like what I'm writing.**

**I hope you guys don't mind, but reviews would be nice… :)**

**One other thing before I continue:**

"_Italics_"**: Spells**

_'Italics'_**: Thoughts – oddly enough, Harry's**

**"Bold": Belial's speech. Oh, and anyone who doesn't like his name, feel free to come up with an alternative. If I like it, I'll change the older chapters too to fit.**

**Might have need of others later. I have no idea at this point.**

**Anyways, on with the show!**

A small child made his way into Kings Cross Station, his uncle behind him. Grinning evilly, he showed the boy to platforms 9 and 10. He then left, laughing, with the words "Well boy, I suppose I shall have to see you when this 'school' of yours ends. Good luck finding the platform though!"

As soon as he was out of sight, Harry Potter smirked.

_'That was too easy…'_

**"Your uncle is an idiot. What did you expect?"**

Shrugging, Harry made his way to the column concealing the entrance to the platform his uncle had so readily laughed at. Making his way through the awed first years and teary families, Harry quickly found himself an empty carriage near the back of the train, and settled down to talk to Belial.

An hour later, the train finally actually started moving. Harry had not moved at all for that entire time. Without his idiot relatives trying to keep him busy, he could actually get a decent conversation with his 'resident', even if he was also concentrating on his book on battle technique. Belial was quite insistent on his training, and if that meant learning to keep him entertained while reading, all the better.

**"Watch out, someone's coming. You may want to watch him, he seems… Volatile…"**

Sure enough, the compartment door opened, and a boy with red hair, freckles, and an ugly, brown rat poking out of his pocket, looked in.

"I heard Harry Potter was coming to Hogwarts this year. You seen him?"

Harry blinked. He knew most of the wizarding world was ridiculous, but really? Could they not simply wait until his name was called out so he could be sorted?

"Not today."

"Huh? You mean you know him?"

"You need to question that after my answer? How concerning. If you must know, I am Harry Potter. I'm pretty sure that at least one of the ridiculous books written about me somehow contains my portrait, so how someone so clearly wanting to find me didn't recognise me is quite impressive."

**"You know, you need to stop being an ass to people. It may be funny and all, but you're going to annoy everyone if you keep going like this."**

_"Fine…"_

Harry then realised that the boy had been staring at him. He found himself wondering if the boy had heard a word he had said after admitting he was Harry Potter.

**"Doubt it."**

"Would you like to sit down? I presume you came along without first finding yourself a compartment, given you have your trunk still."

"Uh… Yeah, thanks."

He struggled to get his trunk on the rack, with Harry watching him, an amused smirk on his face. Eventually the boy gave up and just dropped it on his seat next to him.

"So, have you got the…" The boy trailed off, clearly just polite enough to feel a little awkward about the question.

"The scar? No."

The scar, and thus the horcrux concealed within, had been destroyed mere moments after Belial had found it cowering in the darkest recess of the child's mind, on his first clean-up of the place. It had been one day since Harry had made the deal. Instead, a dark string of runes made its start there, running round the side of his head, beneath the hairline, and down the back of his neck, before the lettering became even smaller, creating the loops and curls that sealed Belial to his soul. But this boy needn't know that. At least not today.

"Oh. Ok." A silence passed before the boy realised he hadn't introduced himself yet. "I'm Ron Weasley, but the way."

"That's nice…"

The journey continued along this line, with Ron chattering away, trying to get Harry to play Exploding Snap or wizard's chess, and Harry trying desperately to read. Just when he was about to snap and tell Ron exactly _where _he could shove his brothers and their legacies, he was saved by a bushy haired girl opening their compartment door.

"Have any of you seen a toad? A boy called Neville's lost his."

Harry looked up, interested. "Have you tried asking an older student to summon him?"

"Why didn't I think of that? I'll go do that!"

"No need. Come on."

Getting up, Harry drew his wand. He was about to try summoning the toad when a thought occurred.

"What's he called, Neville?"

The boy in question, startled he had been seen hiding behind the door, stuttered out "T-Trevor."

"_Accio_ Trevor!"

They waited a few moments. Harry saw the girl was about to speak, probably to thank him but say he shouldn't have bothered trying such an advanced spell. She just seemed to have the whole 'bossy, annoying girl' thing down perfectly. Just then, luckily, a toad came flying down the train corridor and into Harry's waiting hand. He handed the creature to Neville. He then noticed that he, Ron and even the bossy one were staring at him.

_'Why are they doing that Belial?'_

**"That's a fourth year spell, genius."**

_'Shit.'_

"How did you do that? That's a fourth year spell! I've been trying to do some spells, and they've all worked fine for me, but I couldn't even do all the spells for our year, let along three years in advance!"

"I read a lot. Now, would you like to join Ron and I in the cabin? It's a little dull in there, just the two of us."

The girl looked like she was brimming with questions, but one look at her told her that she needed to wait. With that, she and Neville left to get their trunks. A few minutes later they joined Harry and Ron in their compartment. The rest of the trip was spent in relative silence. Despite the girl, who'd introduced herself a Hermione, asking a thousand and one questions, Harry simply patiently answered each one. After a while, even she decided she was done. "For now

"Abbot, Hannah."

The Great Hall was truly magnificent. Harry waited in line, patiently standing while Ron fidgeted in front of him and Hermione whispered about the ceiling behind him.

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

"Bones, Susan"

And so on. Until:

"Granger, Hermione."

The Hat was on Hermione's head for a minute, until the Hat called out:

"RAVENCLAW!"

The names blurred again.

"Malfoy, Draco."

Harry looked up. He had met the twerp earlier and had immediately disliked him, and his arrogant idiot of a father. He sent a light mental nudge to the Hat, and received an immediate response.

_'Hmm? You aren't Draco."_

_'Look into his mind. He's not Slytherin material. Don't let him be one.'_

The hat was placed on Draco's head. An argument then appeared to ensue, until eventually:

"GRYFFINDOR!"

Silence. No-one spoke as Draco got up, stumbled, and almost fainted before a tall ginger-haired boy caught him and helped him to the Gryffindor table, where they made him sit between himself and who appeared to be his clone.

Harry started to clap. And, as if by Magic, the silence shattered. The twins joined him, followed by some more of the less judgemental Gryffindors, until, eventually, the whole table was applauding their newest member.

Mcgonagall called out the next name, and Harry tuned out again.

"Longbottom, Neville."

"GRYFFINDOR!"

Later still:

"Potter, Harry."

And the whispers broke out. How predictable. Harry ignored them and walked confidently up to the Hat, picked it up, and placed it over his head.

'_Ah, yes, Mr Potter. I was hoping I'd see you at some point. Now, let's see here… Plenty of cunning in here, yes… Oh, and I see you put it to excellent use. Plenty of bravery as well, and certainly a lot of intelligence. But I don't think either Ravenclaw or Gryffindor would suit you, despite Dumbledore's insistence otherwise…"_

_'Well, thank Merlin for that. I was hoping I wouldn't have to persuade you not to put me in the Lion's den with Malfoy…'_

_'And… Oh. What's this? Who is this?'_

**"Good evening Hat."**

_'Slytherin it is… Sorry to have disturbed you, great Lord.'_

**"No need to worry. I was expecting you to find me."**

"SLYTHERIN!"

Silence reigned for the second time that evening. Soon, however, the Slytherins were clapping and cheering happily. Despite everything, the great Boy-Who-Lived went to Slytherin!

Harry walked over and sat at the Slytherin table. He looked up to the Staff table, and found the eyes of a dark-looking man with black, greasy hair glaring at him, along with the eyes of the old man Professor Dumbledore, giving his thrice-Damned twinkle a try on him. He then felt a presence try to break into his mind, only for Belial to step in and force them out again. He had no illusions as to who the intruder might have been.

Eventually, Ron was called up.

"GRYFFINDOR!"

As he stepped down again, he looked straight at Harry, and his eyes shone with betrayal and anger. Volatile indeed.

Once the feast had ended, they made their way with the Slytherin prefect to the dungeons, and in front of the portrait of two snakes arguing. Harry smirked. Who knew snakes liked apples so much as to actually _fight_ over one? He resolved to ask Ruby later.

"The password is 'pureblood'. I expect you to check the notice-board periodically for when that changes."

With that, the prefect showed them into the Common Room. Waiting for them was the greasy haired man.

"My name is Professor Snape. I expect all of you little troublemakers to be on your best behaviour in my House. There are some rules that you will abide, or lose your privilege to breathe while in the Castle. The first is that you will _not_, I repeat _not_, disagree or argue in front of the other houses. You have a problem, take it in here. Second, put on a good show for the house. If I find any of you have violated any rules, you will be punished. Severely. Finally, you will not bother me over anything not of vital importance. Do you all understand? Good. Go to bed. _Now_."

The students trudged up the stairs, and Harry found he was sharing a room with Blaise Zabini. They didn't talk to each other, just quickly got ready for bed and as soon as his head hit the pillow, Harry was asleep.

**A/N**

**Yeah, I know I took longer than I probably should have, but hey! You got quite a long chapter! Be happy!**

**Anyway, any reviews would be nice, and thank you to all the people who have Followed, Favourited, and Reviewed already! Woo! Go you!**

**Well, I guess I'll see you. I should hopefully post the next chapter in, at most, a couple of weeks. See you then!**

** - MasterHyperion-Reborn**


	3. Chapter 3 - First Day

**A/N**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. JK Rowling does. Anything you recognise is hers. Anything you don't, well, I'm laying claim to that.**

**Woo! Chapter 3! It's all going so well. I have no idea how often I'll be churning these out, but just a warning: I'll have to stop for a bit soon. I have mock exams coming up. Need to revise. I'll try to make up for it over Christmas.**

**Oh yes, I almost forgot:**

"*Parsel*"

**"Harry, wake up! Time to practice!"**

And that was how Harry woke again. To a voice in his head shouting at him. Not really the best start.

_'Must you insist on doing this? Couldn't you, I don't know, just say it? You're in my head, it's not like I'd be able to ignore you."_

**"But it's ****_fun_****!"**

Sighing, Harry got up, and made his way, groggily, to the shower. Having completed his morning ritual, he made his way out into the common room, and out to the corridor.

_'I guess I'll need to use the Quidditch Pitch, right? I mean, it's not as if it wasn't allowed or anything…'_

**"True, but what if someone sees you?"**

_'I'll put the feelers out, ask people, subtly, mind you, if there might be somewhere more discreet I can train. No need to let anyone know more than is entirely necessary…"_

**"That's my boy, embrace your Slytherin!"**

_'Yeah, because clearly that's the only reason for me to be cunning and cruel, nothing to do with having a demon in my head for the past 4 years.'_

Answered with a rather predictable silence, he made his way outside and started with his exercises and kata.

* * *

><p>Returning to the common room at 7:45, he changed into his uniform and waited for his roommate to wake. He did so around 5 to 8, and went though his own morning routine. Once he was awake enough to think clearly, he said: "Damn it, how are you so… Awake?"<p>

"I have an effective, if annoying alarm."

**"Hey!"  
><strong>

Blaise looked at him a little oddly, but clearly decided to drop it.  
>Harry shrugged and bent down to open his trunk. A hissed parse password to open his private compartment and a little coaxing got a stunning glistening black snake slithering up his arm. A closer look revealed it to have a blood red underbelly and startling blue eyes shining out from its scaly head.<p>

"That's a snake." Blaise apparently had been shocked by the snake.

"Well no shit Sherlock."

"Why is there a snake currently coiling itself around your shoulders?"

"Because she likes it there."

Zabini just looked blankly. Harry only just held back a sigh.

"Look if you must know, she's my pet and her name is Ruby. She hates to go anywhere without me, hence the resting on my shoulders. Actually, you do make a decent point, I should get her to hide. If a Slytherin's acting this surprised, I'd hate to see anyone else's reaction."

Another whispered request to Ruby to hide, and she was wrapped around his torso. Apparently it was nice and warm, if her happy hissing was any indication.

They headed down to breakfast, joining the other first years as they went, as the Slytherin code demanded, and sat at one end of the table. Belial had already told Harry of the Slytherin rules Snape had failed to mention – mainly the hierarchy. First years were at the bottom, and had to work their way up, denoting, roughly, their place on the table. Harry shifted, finding it difficult to sit comfortably with Ruby coiled so tightly round him. Resolving to speak to her later, he gave up trying.

* * *

><p>Snape came around near the end of breakfast, handing out the timetables. Looking at it, Harry found he had Charms with the 'Claws first thing.<p>

_'At least I don't have to worry about Ron…'_

**"Until** **later. Look, you have Potions with the Gryffs second. So not only will you have to deal with the volatile weasel, you need to withstand Snape's ire."**

_'Well, thank you Mr Killjoy!' _Harry huffed. He was right though, two lessons with Gryffindor before the end of the day. Oh joy.

* * *

><p>Charms was fine, except for the teacher, a short man called Professor Flitwick falling off his stack of books when he called Harry's name during the role call, nothing really interesting happened. They were just going over a basic floating charm, one Harry had mastered about a week after getting Belial as a permanent resident.<p>

The girl, Harry recalled her name as Granger, seemed disgruntled that Harry got the spell so quickly.

**"Major inferiority complex there, if ever I saw one."**

_'I should try and capitalise on that. She does seem quite bright…'_

* * *

><p>After Charms ended, Harry and the rest of the Slytherins made their way to Potions. The others talked quietly amongst themselves, and Harry made small talk with Blaise and a boy who'd introduced himself as Theodore Nott about Quidditch and recent Ministry legislation, which Nott seemed to know a lot about, which led to an interesting debate on the effectiveness and fairness of the latest ban on Werewolves marrying. Theo seemed to think it would stop any dangerous cross-breeding that could happen, which had never occurred without some sort of malformation in the baby and frequently resulted in the mothers dying, until Harry pointed out that it wouldn't really stop much of that, as it just meant the werewolves would need to be more covert and secretive, which simply left them with a bigger gap between the two societies.<p>

All this talk ended when the Gryffindors arrived, laughing and joking loudly amongst themselves, and Ron throwing him baleful glares every 10 seconds.

Luckily, before he could approach, Snape swept in, and ordered them all into the classroom.

He too took role call, and Harry was surprised when Snape made no comment whatsoever when he came to him, just a slight sneer and moving on.

**"Wasn't he saying yesterday that Slytherins present a united front? Must really take it to heart himself."**

This was further shown when Snape made no snarky comments the entire lesson, in fact seeming to look almost pleased when Harry and Blaise finished the lesson with a perfect boil-remedying potion. Almost. The fact that he gave no points was not lost on Harry, especially when he gave 10 to Theo for his attempt, which, while good, was nothing like their own.

* * *

><p>History of Magic was next, and 10 minutes into the lesson, Belial was screaming in Harry's head for the torture to end, and Harry eventually just charmed his quill to note down all that was said and put his head down to sleep. Belial woke him up when the lesson ended, so Harry packed up his things and went with the other Snakes to Transfiguration with, one again, the Gryffindors.<p>

When the Slytherins got there, the only thing waiting for them in the room was a house-cat, sitting patiently on the teacher's desk. Harry could see the vague magical aura around the creature, as well as the imprint on its magic of a stern-faced, thin-lipped woman. So, McGonagall was an animagus. Impressive.

**"I have a perfect idea…"**

"Who do you think it belongs to?" Blaise asked from the other side of Theo.

"Oh, probably it's Professor McGonagall's."

"I'm not so sure, does she seem like a cat-lady to you?" Theo sounded incredulous. Harry was hard-pressed not to snort at how accurate his statement really was.

"I think she just might be."

On this, Harry walked up to the front of the class, and proceeded to draw out a ball of wool from his robe, having conjured it when he placed his hand in. The cat's eyes were immediately on it, and when Harry moved it closer, it batted it with its paws. Harry grinned when it started playing with the ball. He kept playing with his professor until it was the time for the lesson to start. Writing magically appeared on the blackboard behind the desk, instructing the students to take out their books and start reading chapter one until McGonagall arrived, as she was currently indisposed temporarily. Looking around, Harry noticed two empty seats among the Gryffindors, and guessed that was probably why his professor was waiting to reveal herself.

It was about ten minutes into the lesson that Weasley finally turned up, along with someone Harry vaguely recognised as Dean Thomas.

"Whew, made it! Can you imagine the look on McGonagall's face if we were late?"

McGonagall chose this moment to hop off her desk and transform back into her human self. Harry smirked at the looks of shock from Blaise and Theo on either side of him as the realised he must have known and purposefully played with the cat. He then saw how shocked and nervous Weasel and Thomas were, and almost burst out laughing.

"Perhaps, Mr Weasley, it would be useful for me to transfigure you into a pocket watch, to ensure one of you may be on time."

"We got lost!" Clearly Weasley felt the need to give her a better opportunity to utilise her biting sarcasm.

"Then perhaps a map? I trust you don't need on to find your seats? It's always a sad day when you can't think to follow your classmates to your next lesson."

The two sheepishly made their way to the free spaces.

"Oh, and 10 points to Slytherin for showing kindness to an animal, Mr Potter."

Harry grinned again at the looks of shock he was receiving and the barely concealed glares on the faces of most of the Gryffindors.

The lesson then proceeded without anything much happening, as they were learning theory.

* * *

><p>Finally the day was over and Harry sank into a comfortable chair back in the Slytherin common room.<p>

"How did you know the cat was McGonagall, Harry?"

"I saw, it Theo. Honestly, it's not that hard."

**"Oh God. Rare talent. How do you never think about this stuff?!"**

"You mean you can see auras?" This time from Blaise. He seemed almost… Hopeful.

"Yes. Anything wrong with that?"

"No, it's just… I have a bit of a talent there, but no-one's ever showed me how to use it properly… I was almost starting to give up on it…" Blaise was looking down at the floor.

"Tell you what, I'll train you in it. It's not actually that hard."

"Really? Thank you Harry!"

Theo suddenly looked rather scared.

"Ummm… Harry, why is there a black snake poking its head out of your cloak?"

"*Ruby! I told you not to make yoursself known unlesss we're in the room!*"

"*But massster! I'm hungry, and there are ssso many juiccy sssmelling people…*"

"*Fine, I'll charm you invisible and you can go hunting.*"

"*Thank you massster!*"

Theo and Blaise were gazing on in shock.

"You're a Parselmouth?!"

"Yep."

"But, but…" Theo seemed to be struggling to put together a sentence.

"Anything wrong?"

"But you're the Boy-Who-Lived! How are you a Parseltongue?"

Harry hissed, and inside hi mind, Belial was getting angry. They both hated Harry's ridiculous titles.

"Don't call me that! And yes, I'm a Parseltongue, get used to it!"

Both boys quailed at his angry retort. Harry decided to just head up to bed. Going up, he remembered his promise to Ruby, and let her slither out onto his shoulders. She paused there, both enjoying the feel of their companion so close, before Harry wandlessly made her invisible allowing her to slither off him and out the door. Harry quickly changed for bed, did his Occlumency exercises. His mindscape took the form of Dante's Inferno, with seven layers, each more fiercely protected than the last. The seventh contained Belial's spirit, and if anyone broke in he would normally deal with them, despite Harry's already considerable defences.

Having made sure everything was in order, he went to bed. Who knew what the next day would bring? I anything, it was sure to fun. Especially with his first lesson with Quirrel.

**"Watch out for him. He's not what he seems."**

_'How do you mean?'_

**"He feels like Voldemort."**

**A/N**

**I'm so sorry I took so long! I got distracted with stuff, then I needed to revise. I stayed up until one in the morning to finish this chapter for you guys. I had meant to gone further, but this will have to do for now.**

**Sorry to anyone who exercises any form of martial art for the exercises thing. I don't and I really have no idea what to do. I just googled 'martial art preparatory exercises' and went for a promising looking one discussing Karate. Sorry!**

**Oh, and anyone who wants to see what I think Ruby looks like, here you go (remove spaces): " mulishamorphs .weebly uploads/1/9/2/1/1921645/7406124 .png"**

**Well, I'd like to answer my Reviews. If you guys don't like it, just skip it. Not difficult.**

**The dragon and the rose: Thanks! Yeah, Ron's going to be a problem. Probably going to cause some issues which might piss off Belial a teensy bit :P. I actually have no idea what he'll do. Apart from one incident. Actually, also some other stuff. Ok, so I know a lot.**

**UNSC UNDEAD BOOMER: Thanks, and Ruby is revealed in here. If anyone doesn't like Harry having her, just remember: I like 'em, and at least it's not some sort of magical one…**** Seriously. Who thinks magical ones are common enough to turn up in the shops, normally JUST in time for Harry to find one. Oh, and a cookie for anyone who works out what I'm talking about. Oh wait. You read about it before here. Whatever.**

**Random Guest Person: Maybe. (Twins wing DM)**

**Emailycat39: I'll get round to explaining that in a couple of chapters.**

**Zense and Geetac: Thanks! That's all I can say to you, so, yeah… Woo!**


	4. Apologies

Hey guys.

I know you've all been waiting ages for me to update this, given I got sidetracked by a load of One-Shots and now Mors Ulnas. Problem is, when I came back to this to write the next chapter, I realised I had quite simply no idea how to continue, and, looking back on what I'd written already, I realised I don't like how I've done it. Before I can continue, I need to re-do a load of chapters and, to be honest, re-think a lot of my plot and characters, because I had no real idea. And I'm going to do this only after finishing Mors Ulnas

My writing style and understanding of different characters has drastically changed since I wrote what I have, and I simply cannot continue it as it has been.

Sorry about all this guys, I know all of you who've followed, reviewed, etc. will be disappointed, and probably angry, just like I am when I find the story I've been reading has been discontinued. Really, I appreciate that, and am deeply sorry.

-MasterHyperion-Reborn


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